=
×

Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

Head To Head
Log In
Register
Unsung Forum »
When did indie music go tits up?
Log In to post a reply
88 messages
Topic View: Flat | Threaded
IanB
IanB
6761 posts

Edited May 03, 2013, 08:36
Re: When did indie music go tits up?
May 03, 2013, 08:13
jb lamptoast-morsley wrote:
Just been watching The Frank & Walters live @ The Spiegel Tent in Cork DVD. Really great life affirming indie pop. I note that also on Cherry Red Records is a DVD of The Sultans of Ping entitled 'U Talk 2 Much', when they reformed a few years back.

Indie music turning into indie landfill music, just seemed to creep up towards the end of last century. It certainly hadn't happened while the above were in their pomp. Was it Brit Pop that did it? It seemed to coincide with the rise of Cold Play and Muse for me (who have done the odd good song here and there). Was it the growth of the MP3 and having easy access to whatever one could want? Why and when exactly did Indie music become the mainstream? Your thoughts please.


A style of music becoming mainstream for me is about when the art becomes codified with its own style points and the artists get commodified. It all started to go downhill when indie became a genre with the same kind of rule book as Metal or Northern Soul or Prog rather than being way of doing business and a state of mind.

I would like to say that it crossed that divide with "Love Will Tear Us Apart" but I think the key date is actually 1983/84 that period book ended by "Blue Monday" / "Power Corruption Lies" and "The Smiths". By the time C86 came out indie was ossified into a fashion and a sub-culture as unforgiving as Teds or Mods. Revolt into style etc. Just compare that era and what followed over the next decade with the sheer range, vitality and purpose of the C81 music. That had a "we can do anything we damn well please" spirit to it. It was still Punk Rock in spirit and no one had much of a career plan.

Five years later it was full of serious young careerists who insisted on their being "right about music" (the majors being always in the wrong*) avoiding all things in their work that might suggest they were actually trying at all. The irony is that this just denied the major labels the kind of talent pool they had in the late 60s and early 70s.

* funny how British indie acts and labels thought UK majors were always in the wrong but they would happily condone signing a US license deal with a major. I guess they thought no one would notice them taking the money over there or perhaps they believed that US majors were less venal. I am going with option 1.
In reply to:
When did indie music go tits up? (jb lamptoast-morsley)
Topic Outline:
Unsung Forum Index